Reshteh polo is one of the Persian dishes that you just can’t say ‘no’ to. In many cities of Iran, the Reshteh Polo is cooked as the dinner on the last Wednesday before Nowruz (Charshanbe Suri). It is usually served with saffron chicken, meatballs, smoked fish, and lentils, and topped with sauteed raisins, barberries, and dates in various parts of Iran.
About This Recipe
All you need to prepare this delicious dish is rice and noodles. You can typically find roasted noodles at Middle Eastern grocery stores. You can also make a vegan version of this food. Reshteh polo is usually served with meatballs or chicken, but the good news is that you can cook Reshteh Polo without meat and turn it into a delicious vegan dish.
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Uses pantry ingredients: This recipe is incredibly easy to make and you can find all the ingredients already in your kitchen.
- Easy to make: You don’t need to have a lot of experience in Persian cuisine to cook a delicious Reshteh Polo. By following the recipe step by step, you will definitely get amazing results and surprise everyone at the table.
- Flavorful: Want to serve a flavorful rice dish for your friends and family? This Persian rice and noodles is easy to make for a special family weekend dinner.
What You Need to Make Reshte Polo
- Rice: To make Persian dishes, It is better to use high-quality Iranian rice or long-grain basmati rice.
- Noodles: You can typically find roasted noodles at Iranian grocery stores.
- Ground beef: Meatballs made with a mix of pepper, salt, onion, and ground beef. Super easy to come together and tastes incredible!
- Yellow onion: We need onions for both topping and cooking meatballs.
- Advieh: The spice needed to make Reshteh Polo is a combination of black pepper, salt, and turmeric.
- Raisins, and dates: As a topping, raisins, barberries, and dates are usually sauteed with some oil.
- Bloomed saffron: When rice is cooked you can mix a few tablespoons of rice with bloomed saffron and use it as the topping.
Instructions
- Cut Reshte into small-sized pieces. Set aside. Rinse rice under cool water before cooking. Let the rice soak in 4 cups of water for a couple of hours, you can reduce the cooking time rice. Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of salt to the rice.
- Pour 5 cups of water into a large non-stick pot and let it boil.
- Drain the rice water and slowly pour it into a pot of boiling water. Increase the heat until the water and rice are boiled, add the noodles to boiling water, and let it cook for about 7 to 10 minutes. Test the rice to be ready. The rice should be soft outside and firm inside. Noodles should also be slightly soft and slightly stiff. Then rinse rice and Reshteh with cool water.
- Rinse the pot and place it on heat, add 2 to 3 tablespoons of oil or butter and 1 to 2 tablespoons of bloomed saffron in a saucepan. Use a large paddle spoon to pour the rice into the pot and into the pyramid form.
- Without placing the lid, place the pot on the flame for about 5 to 7 minutes, when the steam starts to come out, then pour a cup of water put the lid on the pan lower the flame, and let it cook for 45 minutes.
- In a bowl, mix the grated onion, minced meat, salt, and pepper. Then make small meatballs. Saute meatballs for about 10 to 15 minutes until nicely browned.
- In another saucepan add oil, raisins, and dates and saute lightly for 5 minutes. Set aside.
- After the rice has cooked, mix some bloomed saffron with some rice and sprinkle on it.
- Serve Reshteh polo on a platter and garnish with sauteed onions, raisins, dates, and small meatballs.
Expert Tips
- If you don’t like raisins and dates in Reshte polo, you can use barberries. Soak some barberries for 10 minutes then drain. Sauté in a little oil with butter.
- If you do not like the sour taste of barberry too much, add 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to the barberry and mix them together.
- The Reshteh(toasted noodles) is very soft and becomes mushy, so be careful not to over-boil in the water.
- Usually, Reshteh is salty. So watch out for the amount of salt you add to rice.
- Another way to make this dish is to precook raisins, dates, and onions, and then add to Reshte polo in a pot and let them cook for 30 to 45 minutes.
- You can serve Reshteh polo with chicken, meatballs, or some of the stews like Ghormeh sabzi and Gheimeh.
Reshteh Polo With Chicken
First, pour oil into a pan and put it on medium heat until it becomes hot. Then add the chopped onions into the pan and fry them until golden. In this step, add turmeric, salt, and pepper. However, pay attention that the chopped onions do not burn. Add chicken breast pieces and saute them until their color changes.
In this step, you should cook the chickens. For cooking the chickens, add a cup of water to the pan and close its lid. The chicken will be cooked after about 30 minutes. After cooking the chicken pieces, you can serve them with rice, dates, and raisins.
FAQs
How Do You Reheat Reshteh Polo?
To reheat Reshte Polo, transfer it to a pot. Add a splash of water to prevent it from drying out. Cover and put the pot on medium/low heat until it heats up and steams.
How to Store the Leftovers?
You can keep Reshteh Polo in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Did you like the Reshteh Polo recipe? Leave your comment below and If you make this recipe, be sure to tag your photos #yummynotes 
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Ingredients
- 2½ cup of rice
- 500 g minced beef
- 30gr reshteh (roasted noodles)
- butter or vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon bloomed saffron
- Salt
- Water
- 1 large yellow onion
- ½ cup raisins
- ½ cup dates
Instructions
Step 1
Cut reshte into small-sized pieces. Set aside. Rinse rice under cool water before cooking. Let the rice soak in 4 cups of water for couple of hours, you can reduce the cooking time rice. Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of salt to the rice.
Step 2
Pour 5 cups of water into a large non-stick pot and let it boil.
Step 3
Drain the rice water and slowly pour it into a pot of boiling water. Increase the heat until the water and rice are boiled, add the noodles into boiling water and let it cook for about 7 to 10 minutes. Test the rice to be ready. The rice should be soft outside and firm inside. Noodles should also be slightly soft and slightly stiff. Then rinse rice and reshteh with cool water.
Step 4
Rinse the pot and place it on heat, add 2 to 3 tablespoons of oil or butter and 1 to 2 tablespoons of bloomed saffron in a saucepan. Use a large paddle spoon to pour the rice into the pot and into the pyramid form.
Step 5
Without placing the lid, place the pot on the flame for about 5 to 7 minutes, when the steam starts to come out, then pour a cup of water and put the lid on the pan and lower the flame and let it cook for 45 minutes.
Step 6
In a bowl, mix the grated onion, minced meat, salt, and pepper. Then make small meatballs. Saute meatballs for about 10 to 15 minutes until nicely browned.
Step 7
In another saucepan add oil, raisins, dates and saute lightly for 5 minutes. Set aside.
Step 8
After the rice has cooked, mix some bloomed saffron with some rice and sprinkle on it.
Step 9
Serve reshteh polow on a platter and and garnish with sauteed onions, raisins, dates, and small meatballs.
1 comment
Reshte polo always finds in Iranian wedding, taste of this persian food is great